Clinical trials used only men as test subjects. And the medical community assumed that diseases affected men and women in the exact same way.

"Because science and medicine were dominated by men, there was a bias that women were just men with uteruses," she said.

Blumenthal has had a hand in changing those perceptions, and in bringing women's health issues to the forefront.

From 1993 to 1997, she was an assistant surgeon general and was the first deputy assistant secretary for women's health.

She visited the Lehigh Valley on Saturday and was scheduled to speak before the Maimonides Society of the Jewish Federation of the Lehigh Valley. The society, which represents health care professionals in Lehigh Valley's Jewish community, is celebrating its 20th anniversary.

In an interview, Blumenthal said men and women are different on a molecular level. For example, men can help prevent heart attacks by taking aspirin. Taking aspirin helps women prevent strokes, not heart attacks, she said.

Blumenthal has been involved in several Web sites that focus on women's health issues, including www.4collegewomen.org. She retired from government in 2005, and is a professor at the medical schools at Georgetown and Tufts universities.

In addition to women's health issues, Blumenthal has been speaking about bird flu and other infectious diseases. So far bird flu, which is spread to humans through contact with birds, has not reached the United States but she said the news last week that the first case had surfaced in Africa was "very troubling."

Since 1997, about 140 people have been infected with the disease, of which half have died.

A key step in limiting the damage of any public health crisis, she said, is preparation. Large sums of money are spent on treating diseases but not enough is spent on preventing them.

The United States needs to face the disease, also called H5N1, in the same way it has battled other public health issues, she said.

Vaccines need to be developed, and a rapid diagnostic test is also needed. Plus, medical professionals and elected officials need education on quarantine procedures, Blumenthal said.

Sanofi Pasteur, which has a plant in Swiftwater, Monroe County, is one of two companies that are developing a vaccine for avian flu.

Blumenthal said the United States has a responsibility to help other countries fight the disease.

"We have to spend money in the developing world to contain it and keep it from coming here," she said.